Battery pack connection

Abstract

A battery pack connection consists of a flat male plate having a plurality of spaced headed projections and female electrical terminals carried within a projecting housing while a flat female plate has a plurality of through keyholes for receiving the projections and male electrical terminals positioned within a recess together with a flexible strip that engages a projection to enable locking and unlocking of the plates in both their electrical and mechanical connected relationship.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A releasable battery pack connection comprising a relatively flat male plate and a relatively flat female plate, said plates being adapted to be releasably locked together in connected position; said female plate including a plurality of through keyholes with each having a circular opening and a depending slot, and at least one elongate terminal, said terminal and keyhole slots being elongate in the same direction; said male plate including a plurality of spaced headed projections with there being one for each keyhole and with each projection having head and leg portions, and at least one elongated mating terminal; said male plate being positioned abutting the female plate with the legs of the projections being located in the slots of the associated keyholes and with the one terminal within the mating terminal, and releasable locking means on one of said plates for engaging means on the other of said plates to lock said plates in connected position by preventing relative movement between said plates in the direction of said keyhole slots until said locking means is released. 
     
     
       2. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the releasable locking means includes a flexible strip positioned on the backside of the female plate and means normally urging the strip against the backside of the female plate. 
     
     
       3. The invention as defined in claim 2 in which the strip includes a ledge positioned opposite the circular opening of one of the keyholes, said ledge being shaped to be engaged by the head of the projection when located in the circular opening and to overly the projection when the leg of the projection is positioned within the depending slot in the connected position of the plates. 
     
     
       4. The invention as defined in claim 3 in which the strip includes an end portion extending above the female plate for enabling manual flexing of the strip to bend the ledge away from overlying the projection to free the male plate for relative disconnecting movement of the plates. 
     
     
       5. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which the male plate is formed with a projecting housing and the female plate is formed with a recess, said housing and recess being of essentially similar shape to enable nesting of the housing in the recess when the plates are in their connected position. 
     
     
       6. The invention as defined in claim 5 in which the housing projects further outwardly from the male plate than the projections and in which the housing and recess have cooperating side walls extending in the same direction as the keyhole slots with said walls being engagable to facilitate aligning the projections with the circular openings. 
     
     
       7. The invention as defined in claim 5 in which the elongate terminal is a male terminal and is located in the recess and the mating terminal is a female terminal that is located in the housing. 
     
     
       8. The invention as defined in claim 7 in which the recess has a bottom extending transversely to the direction of the side walls of the recess and in which the at least one male terminal is secured on the bottom to extend in the same direction as the direction of the side walls of the recess. 
     
     
       9. The invention as defined in claim 7 in which the housing has a bottom extending transversely of the direction of the side walls of the housing and in which the at least one female terminal is positioned within the housing to extend in the same direction as the direction of the side walls of the housing with an opening located in the housing bottom.